Describe the clinical features and treatment of carotid body tumors.
Answer. It is also called chemodectoma or potato tumor.
Definition: It is a non-chromaffin paraganglioma.
It most commonly arises near the bifurcation of the common carotid artery.
It is a benign tumor.
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Carotid Body Tumor Clinical Features
- It is usually unilateral.
- More common in middle age.
- Swelling (75%) in the carotid region of the neck which is smooth, firm, pulsatil,e and moves only side to side but not in vertical direction.
- It can often compress over the esophagus and larynx.
- Headache, neck pain, dysphagia, and syncope are other presentations.
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- It can present with unilateral vocal cord palsy; which can cause Horner’s syndrome.
- Features of transient ischemic attacks due to compression over the carotids, “carotid body syncope. “
- Thrill may be felt and bruit may be heard.
- It is located at the level of hyoid bone deep to the anterior edge of the sternomastoid muscle in an anterior triangle, vertically placed, round, firm ‘potato-like swelling.
- Often tumors may extend into the cranial cavity along with the internal carotid artery as a dumbbell tumor.
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Carotid Body Tumor Treatment
- If it is small, it can be excised easily as the tumor is situated in the adventitia.
- When it is large, as commonly observed, complete excision has to be done followed by placing a vascular graft.
- During resection, a temporary shunt is placed between the common carotid below and the internal carotid above to safeguard cerebral perfusion;the external carotid artery is ligated. The venous or prosthetic graft is placed between the common carotid and internal carotid arteries.
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